Vice Premier Hui Liangyu on Tuesday urged the avoidance of new quake-related casualties from secondary disasters, such as mudslides or burst dams.

Hui, who is also deputy head of the quake relief headquarters under the State Council, said while surveying the rescue work in quake-hit Sichuan Province that people's security should be put first during rescue and relief work.

Rescuers should race against time to rescue the trapped survivors, and meanwhile secondary disasters caused by the 8.0-magnitude quake that hit on Monday last week should be prevented to avoid new casualties, he said.

After inspecting a reservoir in the province, Hui said that aftershocks still frequently struck and secondary disasters remained a major threat. Maximum efforts must be made to avoid such disasters.

He said high alerts should be sounded involving reservoirs and power plants in quake areas, urging careful scrutiny of their risks, emergency response mechanisms and round-the-clock monitoring of risky sites.

Emergency evacuation schemes must be mapped out for people at risk to ensure the safety of survivors and those helping with rescue work, he said.

(Xinhua News Agency May 21, 2008)